| Istanbul Basaksehir is currently fighting for a place in the European competition and as the pursuer of Besiktas, currently in fourth place, the hosts have no margin for dropping points. Before the upcoming city derby against Fenerbahce the hosts are already four points behind fourth place in the table. This makes Friday's match all the more important for Basaksehir. The bookies don't believe that the hosts could win easily as they give them the clear role of underdog in this derby. Istanbul Basaksehir remains hotly pursued by their city rivals Besiktas. In the worst case scenario, even finishing fifth in the league if Galatasaray wins the cup this season, the fifth-placed team in the Super Lig will also qualify for European competition. In recent weeks, Cagdas Atan's team has made a largely positive impression winning five of their last six league games. The only defeat during this period was against Goztepe. Surprisingly, the away match against the surprise team from Izmir was a 1-4 defeat. Last week, however there was a small show of defiance with a win against second-to-last Hatayspor. Fenerbahce has a record of 11-4-1 in 16 away matches this season. Jose Mourinho's team has scored 42 goals, an average of almost three goals per match. It's quite possible they'll repeat that against Istanbul Basaksehir. |
